Using Wmm For Wireless Multimedia Applications - NETGEAR WGR614v9 - 54 Mbps Wireless Router Reference Manual

Wireless-G Router WGR614v9 Reference Manual
• Choose placement carefully.
For best results, place your router:
– Near the center of the area in which your computers will operate.
– In an elevated location such as a high shelf where the wirelessly connected computers
have line-of-sight access (even if through walls).
– Avoid obstacles to wireless signals.
– Keep wireless devices at least 2 feet from large metal fixtures such as file cabinets,
refrigerators, pipes, metal ceilings, reinforced concrete, and metal partitions.
– Keep away from large amounts of water such as fish tanks and water coolers.
• Reduce interference.
– Avoid windows unless communicating between buildings.
– Place wireless devices away from various electromagnetic noise sources, especially those
in the 2400–2500 MHz frequency band. Common noise-creating sources are:
• Computers and fax machines (no closer than 1 foot)
• Copying machines, elevators, and cell phones (no closer than 6 feet)
• Microwave ovens (no closer than 10 feet)
• Choose your settings.
– Use a scanning utility to determine what other wireless networks are operating nearby, and
choose an unused channel.
– Turn off SSID broadcast, and change the default SSID. Other nearby devices might
automatically try to connect to your network several times a second, which can cause
significant performance reduction.
• Use WMM to improve the performance of voice and video traffic over the wireless link.

Using WMM for Wireless Multimedia Applications

The Wireless-G Router supports Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) to prioritize wireless voice and video
traffic over the wireless link. WMM provides prioritization of wireless data packets from different
applications based on four access categories: voice, video, best effort, and background. For an
application to receive the benefits of WMM, both it and the client running that application must be
WMM enabled. Legacy applications that do not support WMM, and applications that do not
require, are assigned to the best effort category, which receives a lower priority than voice and
video. WMM QoS is enabled by default.
5-14
v1.1, May 2008
Fine-Tuning Your Network